[Neo Zone] Population: 23 Kids

Homesick

Mark sat up in his bed as he rubbed his eyes, having heard someone come down the stairs. In the darkness and his tired confusion, he thought it was his own Mom for a second until he heard his Aunt speak.

"If you boys want breakfast before work, you're going to want to get up." She switched on the light, causing Jaehyun to groan and roll over and bury his head into his pillow.

Feeling homesick all of the sudden, Mark crawled out of his bed and quickly spanned the two steps across the cold floor to Johnny's. The older was barely awake as he curled up into his side, but he woke up faster when his brain recognized something he didn't go to sleep with was in his bed.

"What's up?"

"I miss my Mom and Dad." His words were muffled by the sheets, but Johnny understood enough and wrapped his arms around him.

"Do you want to call them?" He nodded quickly, and Johnny patted his back.

"I'm sure Mom'll let you use her phone." The youngest then ran up the stairs, the creaking of the wood making Jaehyun roll back over and lay on his back with his eyes staring at the ceiling.

"What's going on?"

"Mark's calling his parents. He's getting homesick." Jaehyun rubbed his eyes and stayed silent for a bit.

"That happened quicker than I thought. I'm still glad I got out of there." Johnny swung his legs off the bed and reached over to flick him on the forehead, forcing the younger to wake up.

"That's not the point. What's a Canadian thing we can do for him to make him feel better?" Jaehyun sat up in his bed, reaching underneath to grab his backpack to pull out clothes for the day while he thought. Johnny threw on a shirt, still waiting for him to answer.

"We can make it really cold, get a moose in here, and say eh repeatedly until he feels like he's home." Jaehyun's idea got himself a pillow thrown at his head.

"That's terribly stereotypical of you."

"Fine." Jae threw the pillow back at Johnny, finally getting out of his bed. "In the airport while I was waiting I saw ketchup chips. I don't think those exist anywhere else. That and something called a beaver tail."

"How are we supposed to get him something that only exists in Canada?" He shrugged, turning so his back faced Johnny as they both changed out of their pajamas.

Johnny's Mom then called them upstairs once again, and this time they actually came. They went straight to work in the cafe when they finished eating breakfast, and Johnny taught Mark how to help with the pastries while he worked the register.

They were in between the morning and lunch rush when a familiar face, well, faces, came into the cafe. The three kids seemed surprised to see them working behind the counter, but Mark smiled so brightly for the first time that day.

"What are you guys doing here?"

"We came to see if you wanted to hang out with us." Haechan answered, and Johnny's Mom threw him a skeptical look.

"Who are these kids?"

"My name's YangYang! This is Jeno and Haechan. Nice to meet you!"

"We met them at the park yesterday." Johnny further explained, and his Mom smiled. She wasn't used to hearing about her son making friends. Especially friends that planned on sticking around.

"So are you busy?" Mark looked to Johnny, then his Aunt. Almost pleading with his eyes to go with them.

"Johnny, Mark and Jaehyun are your employees. Handle this in whatever way you want, keeping in mind the lunch rush is coming soon." Johnny's Dad spoke up, and Jaehyun moved closer to whisper to him.

"This is a good time to plan something Canadian for Mark." Johnny nodded, having been thinking along a similar train.

"You can go with them, Mark, and then when the rush is done we can join you." Johnny looked to his parents for approval, and his Mom nodded encouragingly.

"Okay!" Mark hung his apron without a second thought, gladly leaving with his new friends. Haechan then put his arm around Mark and walked him out of the cafe, and Jeno made a comment they'd have him back by three as if they were taking him on a date.

Johnny and Jaehyun waited until they knew he was gone to start planning, and the older of the two instantly reached for his Dad's phone to search the internet for a recipe.

"Alright. Nothing's coming up for ketchup chips, but I found one for beaver tails."

"What are you boys doing?"

"Mark is feeling homesick so we wanted to make him Canadian food. Is that alright?" Johnny's Mom instantly agreed, allowing them access to whatever they required. It was also the perfect time to teach Jaehyun how to make pastries, or at least the basics.

They worked on the beaver tails together, which they learned was just fried dough covered in chocolate shaped like a beaver tail, and they made just enough for their new friend group. Because Johnny had to explain everything to Jaehyun, it look longer than he wanted it to, leaving them with no time to attempt ketchup chips as they got wrapped up in the lunch rush.

Jaehyun managed to bring the beaver tails down to the basement before Mark and the others got back, and the two helped Johnny's parents clean up any mess they had.

"We're back!" YangYang exclaimed as he flung open the cafe door, prompting Johnny and Jaehyun to hang up their aprons and head to the basement.

"What did you guys do?"

"We took Mark around the streets and showed him the schools. Turns out he's going to the same one as YangYang. And we didn't get into any fights." Haechan reported, and Jaehyun ruffled his purple hair since he seemed to want appreciation for not getting in trouble.

"Are those what I think they are?" Mark pointed to the plate, his eyes wide and bright.

"If you think they're beaver tails, then yes." He ran forward and grabbed one, taking a bite. His eyes closed in satisfaction, but he wasn't about to tell them they barely tasted like the ones in Canada.

He was just happy they were trying.

"We were going to make ketchup chips but we ran out of time." YangYang, Jeno and Haechan looked at Jaehyun skeptically, unsure of how that worked. YangYang was the first to shrug it off, grabbing his own beaver tail to enjoy.

"You don't need to do that. I don't like ketchup."

"Noted."

The six boys then sat down around the plate and enjoyed Johnny and Jaehyun's attempts while they listened to Mark talk about Canada. Just to make him feel better.